Trailers for the Hobie Wave?

From another thread:

I haven't been impressed with my Carnai trailer as well. It rides extremely rough and tends to beat the snot out of my Wave no matter where I position it fore/aft on the trailer before I strap it down. I have found the least amount of abuse by sliding the Wave as far forward until the rear edge of the keel is flush with the aft crossbar of the trailer.

Is there an alternate manufacturer of trailers you would recommend for trailering a Hobie Wave?

I looked into the Carnai, but my dealer was out, and to order one w/ mast stand & shipping was about $1100.
I decided to look into other options. I found that I could get a Karavan KBE-1250-46 which is just a basic bunk trailer with 12" wheels, bunks and winch, and is very well suited for the Wave. I was able to buy it from a local boat dealer for about $650, and then I purchased the catamaran kit directly from the Karavantrailers.com online catalog. I trimmed the crossbeams down (they came 98" long) and mounted them UNDER the trailer frame. This combo seems to work perfectly. Total cost was about the same, but the Karavan kit has rollers and guides, a strudy mast stand, and clearance lights.
Since this trailer is a universal boat trailer (as is the Canai most probably) designed to carry up to 1250 lbs, the suspension was way too stiff for the light catamaran. So I simply removed the middle leaf from the spring and now it rides great.
Right now the Wave is still stored under a barn, so cannot take pics yet.
But I highly recommend this combo. The nice thing is, if I ever decide to get a Getaway, this trailer would work for it as well. Actually, if you want to see what this combo looks like with a Getaway, see this post w/ pictures from sail.fast24 http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10776&p=58769#p58769 just click on the flikr link. It is the identical setup (w/ 8" vs 12" wheels) except he tricked his out a little.

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Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

We currently offer Trailex Aluiminum trailers. Nice stuff! Shown in the new catalog... mailed last week.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I would have to agree w/ Matt. I looked into these as well, but a few hundred out of my price range, and not locally available. But given the choice though, the Trailex is the best. Very lightweight. My Karavan trailer is rugged, but very heavy for a small trailer, even to move around empty. The Trailex can almost be used as a beach dolly!

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Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

Was it enough to do hull damage while bouncing down the road? And I do assume you had the boat well tied down.

I have been eying the hull supports, wanting to put extra carpeting on mine. Or even the Hobie 1624 cradles -- if the cradles will fit and install on the beams easily (I can't tell from the no-specs adverts). These things probably should have come with cradles...

I am at a point of frustration with my trailers. No hull should be bounced down the road without good cradles. The risk of damage to the boat and the cost of repair is too high.

No damage that I can see. I usually trailer with 4 ratcheting straps, one at each corner of the tramp around the crossbar. The boat and trailer bounce as a unit.

When I un-tarp this spring I'll have a look at the Carnai springs and see if I can remove one of them as wannahobie suggested.

And maybe do a mod from rubber pads to double-bogied rollers as well, to spread out the loads.

Thanks for all the advice.

You can always add more cross bars on the trailer to spread out the load and relieve pressure points. On my home-brew trailer, I used wood-deck planks to make four cross bars; so each point is only supporting about 25 lbs. I used some cheap marine carpet as a slippery padding, but the 6" wide wood has got to be gentler on the hull than a metal bar or rubber roller when it bounces.

I posted pictures and description on another thread of my trailer configuration.

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=10552&start=0

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What - Me Worry?


2006 Hobie Wave 7358
"Ish Kabibble"